Protesters slam Orgun, Gaza massacres

KABUL (Pajhwok): Hundreds of people, including women, rallied in Kabul on Wednesday against a deadly attack in the Orgun district of southeastern Paktika province and Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip.

A week earlier, more than 40 civilians were killed and 60 others wounded in a suicide car bombing in the Ahangaran bazaar of Orgun district. Many shops were damaged by the powerful explosion.

In Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip of Palestine has left over 500 civilians, including women and children, dead and 3,000 wounded. Gaza has been ruined in the unprovoked shelling.

Organised by Solidarity Party of Afghanistan, the protesters marched from the Shah-i-Do Shamshira shrine to Zarnigar Park. They chanted slogans against the government and the US. More than 200 women participated in the demonstration.

The party’s spokesperson, Silai Ghaffar, said the protest was aimed at condemning attacks of rebels in Afghanistan and Israeli strikes against innocent Palestinians. “We strongly condemn both attacks in strongest terms. These all are cowardly acts,” she added.

Another protester, Hafizullah Rasikh said dozens of innocent people were being killed daily in the country but the government was unable to take decisive action against anti-state elements.

He lamented hundreds of innocent Palestinians had been killed in brutal attacks by Israel but the US and Islamic countries were playing the role of silent spectators.

At the end of the strike, protesters issued a resolution: “Innocent people are being killed mercilessly in Afghanistan and Palestine. Afghans are going through such kinds of tragedies almost daily but the world has kept silence and continued providing weapons to human killers.”

Separately, the Afghanistan Ulama Council (AUC) and High Peace Council (HPC) also denounced Israelis attacks on Palestinians, urging United Nations to control the situation and end Israeli brutalities.

Abdul Hakim Mujahid, the HPC deputy head at a meeting in Kabul, said all Muslims of the world were brothers.

He said genocide of Palestinians was ongoing in Gaza, but no Islamic country had bothered to take notice of Israeli aggression.

He demanded the UN to end the ongoing massacre and called on armed opposition to lay down their weapons in larger interests of the country.

Another member of the HPC, Ustad Mohammad Akbari, also condemned Israel in strongest possible terms and asked on Muslim states to unite to protect the innocent Palestinians.